A New History of Modern Architecture

by Colin Davies

Combining a fascinating, thought-provoking and – above all – readable text with over 800 photographs, plans, and sections, this exciting new reading of modern architecture is a must for students and architecture enthusiasts alike.

Organized largely as a chronology, chapters necessarily overlap to allow for the discrete examination of key themes including typologies, movements, and biographical studies, as well as the impact of evolving technology and country-specific influences.

Genres: Architecture, Art, Nonfiction

500 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2018

Reviews

[Servabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Architecture is more than just the design of buildings. It has other capabilities. For example it can give expression to the power and influence of a particular section of society - a ruling family, a religious institution or a commercial enterprise. It can also represent a whole community, even a whole civilization. They survive for long periods so when we look at them with curiosity we are, in a sense, looking into the past. In old buildings we find evidence of the way our ancestors taught. Architecture therefore has a special, symbolic connection with the past and also with the future. Architecture and history are closely related disciplines.

In the 19th century this special connection between architecture and history was interpreted rather literally. Architects studied the buildings of the past not just to understand them but to recreate their spirit. The architects of the Gothic Revival, for example, filled their sketchbooks with details of medieval buildings and incorporated versions of them in designs for new buildings. Those new buildings were, in a sense, works of history. The 'classical' styles of ancient Greece and Rome had formed the basis of most western architecture ever since the Renaissance, but other historical styles were also studied and copied: Islamic, Byzantine, Chinese, Egyptian. This tendency to design new buildings in imitation of old ones is usually called 'historicism' and it was the prevailing orthodox of 19th century architecture, Modernism. Modernism defined itself partly as non-historicism. It was thought of as a new style, a complete rethink, a return to basic principles. Modernism did not copy, it invented anew. Some architectural historians writing in the middle of the 20th century saw the birth and rise of Modernism as inevitable because it was the expression of irresistible new technological and social forces - mass production, democracy and secularism. Historicism was an escape from the harsh realities of the modern world; Modernism embraced them and celebrated them.

Art Nouveau ornament was inspired by nature and looked at nature afresh, trying to imitate not just the forms of plants and animals but the very forces of growth and resistance that produced them.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole sweep of architecture since 1900 is a huge subject to tackle, and this book does provide a reasonably comprehensive perspective. But its format– each chapter is a tightly encapsulated look at a particular movement or architect – prevents it from really succeeding as a unified whole. It lacks the connective tissue to draw adequate connections between different topics/time periods, and its just-the-facts approach saps it of the narrative momentum to keep a reader's interest over 500 pages. It's a good reference work, but it feels more like a collection of individual encyclopedia articles rather than a period-spanning history.

I really loved Davies's Thinking About Architecture, which was a cogent but accessible introduction to architectural theory, so I had high hopes for this book. While the clarity of language is still present, here it's applied to a topic that's not as impenetrable as architecture theory, and it comes across as bland rather than helpful. Most of the text in each chapter is given over to descriptions of buildings chosen to represent the chapter's theme, and while there are quite a few images, I still felt forced to read it with my phone in hand to get a better sense of what was being described. I would've preferred more space being given to the author's commentary on the chapter's theme, biographical details of the architects involved, or threads connecting a theme to prior chapters, rather than the litany of buildings intended to represent each style.

In the end, I kept wondering who this book is for – by the time a student of architecture has learned enough jargon to make the descriptions of buildings palatable (or at least intelligible), they should already have the historical background to make a straightforward history a bit redundant. 2.5 stars, rounded up because I think it's a worthwhile reference work even if it's not a great cover-to-cover read.

[Mid Century Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a new definition that is more expansive than ever, this book extends the boundaries of modernism well beyond all cliches, to create a new canon. An ambitious volume that addresses architecture of the twentieth century – and twenty-first century – worldwide. It juxtaposes images of iconic buildings, organizing by ideological themes instead of time period. Full review, MidCenturyBooks.Net, Modern Architecture

[Rellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes
Expressionism
Art Nouveau
Art Deco - American Skyscraper
Russian Constructivism (Kazimir Malevich)
Latin American Modernism
Megastructure(!) - Brutalism
Deconstructionism (Zara Hadid, Frank Gehry & Bilboa)
Fragrant Hill Hotel - I.M. Pei (!)